A’s bats fall silent against Toronto

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Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Dan Straily throws to the Toronto Blue Jays during the third inning of a baseball game Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Oakland, Calif.

OAKLAND — Dan Straily lost his third straight start since being called up back from Triple-A Sacramento earlier this month as the Toronto Blue Jays topped the A’s 5-0 at the O.co Coliseum on Monday.

The rookie right-hander (6-5) is now 0-3 with a 4.76 ERA since returning to Oakland on July 20.

With the loss, the Texas Rangers picked up a game in the American League West standings. The A’s (63-44) now lead by five games. It marked the first time since June 23 that the A’s have lost ground in the AL West standings.

Jose Bautista opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a blast over the scoreboard in left field, his 25th home run of the season.

The Blue Jays added a run in the fourth when left fielder Yoenis Cespedes bobbled a one-out line drive single off the bat of Colby Rasmus, allowing Edwin Encarnacion, who was being held at third, to head home.

The A’s defense let Straily down again in the fifth inning with the Blue Jays up 3-0 after a leadoff home run by Emilio Bonifacio. With Jose Reyes on first, shortstop Adam Rosales threw a possible double-play ball over the head of second baseman Jed Lowrie, allowing Reyes to score from first. Maicer Izturis, who hit the grounder to Rosales, later scored on a two-out single by Ramus.

Straily left the game with the Blue Jays leading 5-0 after 4 2/3 innings, but only two of those runs were earned runs on six hits.
As the A’s struggled to keep the Blue Jays off the bases, pitcher Mark Buehrle silenced their bats at plate.

The A’s entered the contest having collected 10 hits in three of their past four games and scoring 28 runs over that stretch. But the A’s only managed to pick up five hits off Buehrle over seven innings as he stretched his scoreless innings streak to 20.

Over the course of the game, only two A’s hitters reached second base.